The present invention relates to automated process monitoring and control. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for utilizing an existing commercial two-way digital paging network for pseudo real-time monitoring, control and/or failure diagnosis of various automated processes such as, for example, ice bagging machines, fountain or citrus drink dispensers, water treatment systems and the like.
Many industrial processes involve highly automated apparatus for the generation and/or dispensation of end product. For example, in the beverage service industry fully automated machinery is extensively relied upon for the production of massive quantities of ice. A typical ice machine is adapted to grow, harvest and bag ice and, thereafter, to stack the bagged ice with little or no human intervention. Such a complex machine is necessarily crowded with motors, levers, conveyors and other moving parts as well as fluid handling hoses, valves and nozzlesxe2x80x94each highly prone to failure. Because a typical machine is generally continuously operated in an unattended mode, the failure of just one component may completely disrupt operation. Such a disruption could potentially result in the costly loss of many hours of production. As a result, automated production monitoring and remote failure mode analysis capabilities are of paramount importance for the reliably sustained production of end product.
One solution, as has been implemented by and is commercially available from the present Applicant, Lancer Corporation of San Antonio, Tex., involves real-time monitoring of the industrial process through the commercial telephone system. According to this implementation, a MODEM-to-MODEM dial up link is utilized to connect a remotely operated automated process with a service technician""s computer located at a central service location. The technician""s computer is provided with a software interface program that allows the service technician to generate operational commands, which are then executed on the remotely located automated process, and to receive and analyze a telemetry stream, which indicates the changing status of the various components of the remotely located automated process. The telemetry stream is stored in a database located on the service technician""s computer and is used to analyze the operation of the remotely located automated process, either statistically or through an animation of the process located on the service technician""s computer""s monitor. Unfortunately, such an implementation requires a MODEM-to-MODEM link for every process to be monitored. On the central service location side, this necessitates at minimum a large MODEM bank as well as multiple phone line capabilities. On the remote process side, this implementation requires the provision of a MODEM and telephone line and most often requires modification of the remote location""s inside cable plant every time the automated equipment is moved.
It is therefore an overriding object of the present invention to improve over the prior art by providing a method and apparatus for monitoring of remotely located automated process whereby the many sensors, switches and/or other indicators of the process may be monitored as necessary without requirement for dedicated, full-time communication with the central service location. It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a system whereby the service technician is also provided with the ability to efficiently perform repeated operations without resort to unnecessary duplication of effort. Finally, it is an object of the present invention to minimize the cost associated with the monitoring and diagnosis of remotely located automated processes without sacrifice of the service technician""s ability to receive desired status data on an at will basis.
In accordance with the foregoing objects, the present inventionxe2x80x94a method and apparatus for monitoring a remotely located industrial process from a central service locationxe2x80x94generally comprises transmitting, through existing two-way digital paging networks, a monitoring instruction to the remote location, executing an operational command contained in the monitoring instruction on the industrial process, logging the effect of the execution of the command in a history file and transmitting content from the history file back to the central service location. Although in a minimal system, the monitoring instruction may simply comprise the identification of an operational event for execution by the remotely located industrial process, it is preferred that the system be adapted for the on demand execution of one or more scripts of operational events. In this preferred case, a special monitoring instruction may be utilized to transmit a new script to the remotely located process, where it can then be stored for execution as necessary in the continued monitoring and diagnosis of the industrial process.
The content of the history files is transmitted, also through the existing two-way digital paging networks, back to the central service location where the data contained therein may be utilized to simulate the remotely operated industrial process according to date and time stamp information transmitted therewith. In this implementation of the present invention, the simulation generally comprises the creation of an animated representation of the industrial process, giving the service technician much the same information as would an on site diagnostic examination of the industrial process. Because only a sampling of the actual system status is necessary to accurately recreate the operation of the remote system, the two-way digital paging network is found to be a robust medium for the efficient transmission of diagnostic commands and the system status resultant their respective execution.